Sit Ayuthaya Muay Thai - Hamilton

Hey guys so this is about as honestly as I think I can rate the gym where I train. Dunno what to write as a review so just ask questions or why I've rated certain things as they are and I'll hopefully answer as best I can!

Piz possibly means that he would like some explanation as to why you've given the marks/rankings that you did. For example, you've given a 7 out of 10 for the equipment. Why?? do they have a reasonable amount of gear?? is there alot of gear, is it new?old? shiny? soiled?? lots of old used but functional gear???...... that kind of thing.

Well, the training's pretty good, regularly produce fighters from amateur and novice level right through to A class and usually consists of the usual bagwork, padwork, sparring - both light and heavy, dutch drills etc. and usually concludes with a hefty circuit which we try to change as often as we can.

The equipment we have is of good quality and there's plenty of pads, kick shields, belly protectors etc. but we don't provide shinnies etc. There's some crappy gloves for beginners etc. but after people have been there a while we expect them to have their own sparring gear. All the circuit equipment like kettle bells and medicine balls are obviously provided and are of high quality.

The one thing the gym might suffer from most is it's size. At the moment it's fine but it's not a huge gym. It's got a small ring, a judo matted and canvased floor with about 15 bags on the walls and it's enough size at the moment but I've seen nights when it's occasionally so busy we have about 40 people in the one class. This obviously gets rather crowded. fortunately, there's a separate class for fighters which is usually a lot quieter and hence you have more space.

Whilst class can be quite busy at times, the instructor oversees all the training and is a really casual and approachable guy - doesn't buy into all this "BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!" shite. He's since became one of ma best friends - been on a good few nights out etc. with him. Also, during most classes, there's usually one or two assistant instructors training alongside everyone else to help out and a lot of the fighters come in early and help out as well. Mostly, we usually turn up to go for a run before training then get roped into it by the coach lol.

The atmosphere's really good, no noticeable cliques, everyone talks to everyone else, including the new folk and there's a healthy competitive side comes out in everyone during the circuit. It's good to hear everyone egging their partner/s etc. on during pad and bag work or sparring, in the circuit etc. As I said previously, occasionally, the classes can be ridiculously busy and whilst working on technique tends to suffer in these circumstances, the instructor instead gives a really hard workout and I think the atmosphere gets better.

The striking and grappling instruction is top notch. Whilst it's a small gym with a small but regular stable of fighters, those we have are first class with noticeable fighters like Paul Grant, Louise Mclaughlin and even a wee thai guy who's possibly the craziest man I've ever met called Rungnackorn Kharnphan occasionally turning up. He lives in Inverness but fights from out gym and regularly makes it down to take coaching sessions. As anyone who knows their thai boxin will tell you - nobody clinches like the thais! I believe Rung was ranked in the Lumpinee for western boxing.

As for weapons we don't really do any lol. Occasionally for a bit of a laugh, ie. once a year, the instructor will bring in the practice swords and people will do a bit of krabi krabong. It's a bit of fun and not really anything to do with what we train for.

there ye go that's about as in depth as I can think of off the top of my head, any more questions, feel free to ask!